Judging by polls, most Republican voters don’t share this view. And I haven’t tried to nail down where the party’s hundreds of House nominees stand. But the Senate numbers are striking. Of the 28 nonincumbent nominees, 12 to 15 share the view of Akin, Mourdock, and the party platform. They believe a rape victim should be forbidden to terminate her pregnancy. This is no longer a fringe position. It isn’t a couple of gaffes by renegade crackpots. It’s the predominant view among Republican nominees for the nation’s highest legislative body. It’s what the Republican Party is.

Clarification, Oct. 25, 2012: This sentence was revised to make clear that Ted Cruz is the former solicitor general of Texas. (Return to the revised sentence.)